New Delhi. Coincidences are an important part of life. Many times in the lives of all of us, an incident occurs such that it seems as if something similar has happened before. The world of sports is also no different. Some cricket matches are such that they appear to be ‘photocopies’ of the events of a previous match. The match of Australasia Cup in 1986 and Asia Cup in 2014 between arch rivals India and Pakistan is a great example of this.
In both these matches, apart from the score of the Indian team, the difference of victory and defeat, there were many other similarities that everyone was surprised. Both the matches were decided by a six hit by the Pakistani team’s batsman in the last over. Let’s look at the similarities between both the matches.
Team India had scored 245 runs in both the matches.
The India-Pakistan match of the Australasia Cup was played on 18 April 1986 in Sharjah and the India-Pakistan match of the 2014 Asia Cup was played on 2 March in Mirpur (Bangladesh). In both these matches, Pakistan team won the toss and chose to bowl first. Batting first, the Indian team scored 245 runs in both the matches and Pakistan team won by one wicket in both the matches.
In both the matches, victory and defeat were decided in the last over.
In both the matches, victory and defeat were decided in the last over and the winning run came in the form of a six. In the Australasia Cup match, the winning six was hit by Javed Miandad on the last ball of the innings. The bowler was Chetan Sharma. Similarly, in the Asia Cup match, the winning six came from the bat of Shahid Afridi on the fourth ball of the 50th over. Afridi off-spinner R. This winning shot was hit on Ashwin’s ball. In both the matches, Pakistan achieved the target by losing 9 wickets.
India’s number 1 batsman scored half-centuries in both the matches.
India’s number 1 batsman had scored half-centuries in both these matches. K in the Australasia Cup match. Srikanth started the Indian innings while Sunil Gavaskar was his partner. Srikanth had scored 75 runs in the match. Similarly, in the Asia Cup match, Rohit Sharma started the innings and Shikhar Dhawan was his partner. Rohit had scored 56 runs in the match. It was also a coincidence that both the number 1 batsmen – Srikanth and Rohit Sharma had hit two sixes each in their half-century innings.
India scored three half-centuries each in both the matches.
In both the matches, three half-centuries were scored by India. In the Australasia Cup match, India’s Srikkanth (75 runs), Gavaskar (92 runs) and Dilip Vengsarkar (50 runs) scored fifties, while in the Asia Cup match, Rohit Sharma (56 runs), Ambati Rayudu (58 runs) and Ravindra Jadeja (52*) had played half-century innings.
Pakistan’s two batsmen were run out in both the matches.
Now talking about Pakistani innings, two Pakistani batsmen were run out in both these matches. Pakistan’s Salim Malik and Wasim Akram were run out in the Australasia Cup match, while Misbah-ul-Haq and Sohaib Maqsood were run out in the Asia Cup match. The similarities between the two matches do not end here. The last over of Pakistan’s innings in the Australasia Cup match was bowled by India’s Chetan Sharma and on the first ball of this over, Pakistan’s number 10 batsman Zulqarnain (golden duck) was bowled.
Similarly, in the Asia Cup match, during Pakistan’s innings, the last i.e. 50th over was bowled by Ashwin, on whose first ball number 10 batsman Saeed Ajmal (golden duck) was bowled. Let us tell you, when a batsman is out on the very first ball, it is called ‘Golden Duck’. The interesting thing is that in both the matches, the bowlers who bowled the last over for India – Chetan Sharma (3/51) and Ashwin (3/44) took three wickets each.
Both matches resulted in sixes
Both these matches were decided by a six in the last over. In the Australasia Cup match, Javed Miandad gave a historic one-wicket victory to Pakistan by hitting a six on the last ball of the innings. Similarly, in the Asia Cup match, Shahid Afridi made Pakistan win by one wicket by hitting a six on the fourth ball of Ashwin in the last over of the innings. Javed Miandad (116 not out) and Shahid Afridi (34 not out), both hit three sixes each in their innings.
Pakistan won both the matches
In the Australasia Cup match, India scored 245 runs losing 7 wickets in 50 overs with the help of half-centuries from Srikanth, Gavaskar and Vengsarkar. For Pakistan, captain Imran Khan took two wickets and Wasim Akram took three wickets. In reply, Javed Miandad fought single-handedly to take Pakistan to victory in the last over. Chetan Sharma tried to bowl the last ball of the last over but bowled a full toss, which Javed gave victory to Pakistan by sending it outside the boundary for a six. This defeat on the last ball of the last over is the fate of the Indian team till now. For India, Chetan Sharma took three wickets and Madanlal took two wickets. Pakistan achieved the target by losing 9 wickets.
In the Asia Cup match, India, batting first, scored 245 runs losing 8 wickets in 50 overs with the help of half-centuries from Rohit, Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja. For Pakistan, Mohammad Hafeez and Mohammad Talha took two wickets each while Saeed Ajmal took three wickets. In reply, Pakistan’s innings started faltering after Ahmed Shehzad was out on 42 and Hafeez was out on 75 runs but Shahid Afridi along with the lower order batsmen gave the team a memorable victory. Lower order Sohaib Maqsood gave him good support by scoring 38 runs. ‘Boom Boom Afridi’ played an unbeaten inning of 34 runs with the help of two fours and three sixes in 18 balls and took the team to victory by hitting a six in the last over.